“The downgrade reflects our expectations for limited recovery of credit metrics given continued operating losses at the Canadian division as well as potential costs related to the data breach,” wrote Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Ana Lai in a report published after the markets closed on Friday.

Lai expects Target Canada’s performance to improve in 2014 but wrote that the data breach could have lingering effects on customer traffic.

The financial aspects for the breach could linger longer, however. “We expect incremental expenses, penalties, and litigations to emerge in fiscal 2014. While the costs related to the data breach are difficult to forecast, we believe these expenses could be significant but manageable given Target’s good cash-flow generation.” Lai wrote.

Target’s short-term obligation rating of “A – 1” remained unchanged, and the outlook is stable.

Earlier this week, Amazon announced that it's hiring 1,000 more full-time workers at its Shakopee fulfillment center. But city and county officials are still assessing reliable transportation options for the 1,500 people who already work there.

U.S. stocks are opening higher Friday morning as major indexes continue to set records. Technology companies are rising on company earnings. Health care and household goods companies also trading higher after lagging the market over the last few weeks.